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In addition to these reviews, I occasionally review books for
Dr Dobbs Journal
and
C/C++ Users Journal.
Click to browse Amazon's
Technical Division.
General
Object Technology: A Manager's Guide
by David A. Taylor. In my opinion, the best introduction to object technology
for programmers, despite the title. Great graphics.
TOG on Interface
by Bruce Tognazzini. A collection of articles by one of the architects of the
Macintosh interface. Much of the recommendations here have been incorporated into
Windows. Bruce supports his choices with research and reasoning. Required reading
if you're doing GUI work. An improvement over all its successors.
The Elements of Programming Style
by Brian W. Kernighan. This 2nd ed, published in 1988, may seem a little dated
because the languages it addresses are now 'ancient'. However, the wisdom offered
here is ageless. Use it to improve your programs. A CLASSIC
Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs
by Niklaus Wirth. With only five chapters and 365 pp, this text treats fundamental
data structures, sorting, the best treatise I've found on recursion, dynamic information
structures, and language structures & compilers. The date of the text precludes
object-oriented programming, yet the tools presented here are welcome adjuncts for
Delphi developers. A CLASSIC
Pascal User Manual and Report:
Iso Pascal Standard by Kathleen Jensen, Niklaus Wirth, Andrew B. Mickel. The book
that defines Pascal, the seed of the underlying Delphi language. Use it to get a
concise definition for the procedural parts of Delphi, while learning linked lists,
binary trees, pointers, and more. You'll have to work with this text, (i.e., think!),
but it is still the most straight-forward presentation of the language.
The Tao of Objects, Gary Entsminger, M&T Books, 1990. I keep this one
in my library as an example
of how bad programming books can be. I felt like I got taken halfway through it.
NOT RECOMMENDED.
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C++
Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example (C++ In-Depth Series)
by Andrew Koenig & Barbara Moo. Read this one first. Great writing by two native
speakers of the language. Koenig is the project editor for the C++ standard, so
he is uniquely qualified to teach Standard C++. See my
full length review
in Dr Dobb's Journal.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
The C++ Programming Language
by Bjarne Stroustrup, 3ed. The must-have text for C++ programmers by the designer
of the language. Also recommended for Delphians, as it is one of the few well-written
computing texts.
RECOMMENDED
Optimizing C++, Steve Heller, 1999. This is one of the few books I returned
to the book club after reading only a few pages and getting that "I've been
taken, again" feeling. Large print, wide margins, topics covered at length
elsewhere. Best thing about it was the cover.
NOT RECOMMENDED.
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